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Smith theory of group actions

A collection of techniques and results first obtained by P.A. Smith around 1940 (see [a5], [a6], [a7]) in the area of finite transformation groups. Smith theory is now (2000) best understood via cohomological methods, following an approach introduced by A. Borel (see [a2], [a3]).

The main goal of Smith theory is to study actions of finite -groups on familiar and accessible spaces such as polyhedra or manifolds (cf. also Action of a group on a manifold; -group). However, it can easily be adapted to a very large class of spaces, the so-called finitistic spaces. These are spaces such that every covering has a finite-dimensional refinement (see [a4], p. 133, for details; see also General topology; Covering (of a set)). The most important examples are compact spaces and finite-dimensional spaces. The spaces occurring below are assumed to be of this type.

Let be such a finitistic space and let be a finite -group acting on it (here is a fixed prime number). Let be the fixed-point set of the action, that is,

The two basic theorems of Smith theory are as follows:

a) If has the homology of a point (cf. also Homology), then the fixed-point set also has the homology of a point; in particular, it is non-empty.

b) If has the homology of a sphere, then the fixed-point set (possibly empty) also has the homology of a sphere.

Of course, the main examples here are when , the -dimensional disc, and when , the -dimensional sphere. However, the homological nature of the results are important, as they can fail at other prime numbers.

Homological methods building on Smith's original approach can be used to verify very general restrictions associated to actions of finite -groups. For example, if satisfies the additional hypothesis that its total cohomology is finite, then there is an inequality arising from an action of a finite -group on :

Note that this implies that the fixed-point set has finitely many components and that each of them has finite cohomology. The two previous results can be derived from this inequality.

Another important result which follows from Smith theory is the fact that if is a finite group acting on a space which is finitistic and acyclic (i.e. has the integral homology of a point), then the orbit space is also acyclic.

Smith theory can be considered a precursor to the general cohomological theory of transformation groups (cf. also Transformation group). Given a finite group acting on a space , one constructs a space, called the Borel construction on , as follows: , where is a free, contractible -space. The projection induces a bundle mapping , where is the so-called classifying space of , an Eilenberg–MacLane space of type . The analysis of this bundle and related constructions is the basic tool in this area. In particular, the main results from Smith theory follow from considering the case ; if is an -dimensional complex with a -action, then the inclusion induces an isomorphism

provided . This fact, combined with the spectral sequence in cohomology associated to the fibration

How to Cite This Entry: Smith theory of group actions. Alejandro Adem (originator), Encyclopedia of Mathematics. URL: http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?title=Smith_theory_of_group_actions&oldid=11811

This text originally appeared in Encyclopedia of Mathematics - ISBN 1402006098